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abujagirl
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On January,25 2012, THE NATION published a piece on Major General Babagana Monguno, who was then Chief of Defence Intelligence, CDI,and now National Security Adviser.
The article titled ‘DIA and national security’ had quite a lot to say about Monguno. See
• ''Monguno was appointed Chief of Defence Intelligence, CDI, in July 2009 but throughout his tenure, the agency retrogressed in terms of manpower development and relevance to national security.''
• ''Monguno closed down all the offices of the agency in the states with the exception of Abuja and Lagos. Even at that, the agency’s office in Lagos operates with skeletal staff, most of whom are artisans''.
• ''Monguno’s era witnessed a gradual decapitation of the agency as the total staff strength fell from about 100,000 to a miserable 10,000. Mostly affected were civilian staff, many of whom were compulsorily retired without any gratuity.''
• ''Monguno’s tenure was an era of terror itself for an agency that could have easily fought the current wave of terrorism to a standstill. His professional background as an architect and someone who had no previous intelligence training must have robbed the agency of the required direction it needed during his tenure. In many instances, instead of a properly coordinated security duties, he usually resorted to ad hoc arrangements which exposed his naivety''.
• ''During the inauguration of President Goodluck Jonathan on May 29, 2011, it was a fidgety Monguno who ordered the network providers to shut down Abuja networks for the duration of the ceremony out of fear of terrorists’ strike. He also ordered the closure of the entry routes into the city. The only respite was to allow those who wanted to leave the city to do so''.
• ''Monguno had the exclusive past time of putting fears in the minds of the staff, particularly the civilians, threatening and sacking them at the slightest opportunity. In addition to this, field officers were starved of funds while money was allocated for events that had no bearing with the job of the agency. For instance, during the wedding ceremony of the daughter of AVM Faloyin, his deputy, in 2011, the vault of the agency was thrown open as military officers allegedly flew Business Class to the occasion in the United States with estacodes while ordinary bulbs could not be replaced as money was not released for operations.''
• ''The tyrannical tenure of Monguno, an indigene of Borno State, may have compromised national security. This is because at the inception of Boko Haram insurgency, those who were apprehended were handled with kid gloves, as they were left in the agency’s visitors’ room instead of cells. This enabled them to move freely and even got to know that the agency had internal problems. It sounds unbelievable that the Boko Haram suspects were being served special meals from Mr. Biggs and others, while Monguno kept referring to them as “friends of the agency”.
Click here to read full article
SOURCE: THE NATION
The article titled ‘DIA and national security’ had quite a lot to say about Monguno. See
• ''Monguno was appointed Chief of Defence Intelligence, CDI, in July 2009 but throughout his tenure, the agency retrogressed in terms of manpower development and relevance to national security.''
• ''Monguno closed down all the offices of the agency in the states with the exception of Abuja and Lagos. Even at that, the agency’s office in Lagos operates with skeletal staff, most of whom are artisans''.
• ''Monguno’s era witnessed a gradual decapitation of the agency as the total staff strength fell from about 100,000 to a miserable 10,000. Mostly affected were civilian staff, many of whom were compulsorily retired without any gratuity.''
• ''Monguno’s tenure was an era of terror itself for an agency that could have easily fought the current wave of terrorism to a standstill. His professional background as an architect and someone who had no previous intelligence training must have robbed the agency of the required direction it needed during his tenure. In many instances, instead of a properly coordinated security duties, he usually resorted to ad hoc arrangements which exposed his naivety''.
• ''During the inauguration of President Goodluck Jonathan on May 29, 2011, it was a fidgety Monguno who ordered the network providers to shut down Abuja networks for the duration of the ceremony out of fear of terrorists’ strike. He also ordered the closure of the entry routes into the city. The only respite was to allow those who wanted to leave the city to do so''.
• ''Monguno had the exclusive past time of putting fears in the minds of the staff, particularly the civilians, threatening and sacking them at the slightest opportunity. In addition to this, field officers were starved of funds while money was allocated for events that had no bearing with the job of the agency. For instance, during the wedding ceremony of the daughter of AVM Faloyin, his deputy, in 2011, the vault of the agency was thrown open as military officers allegedly flew Business Class to the occasion in the United States with estacodes while ordinary bulbs could not be replaced as money was not released for operations.''
• ''The tyrannical tenure of Monguno, an indigene of Borno State, may have compromised national security. This is because at the inception of Boko Haram insurgency, those who were apprehended were handled with kid gloves, as they were left in the agency’s visitors’ room instead of cells. This enabled them to move freely and even got to know that the agency had internal problems. It sounds unbelievable that the Boko Haram suspects were being served special meals from Mr. Biggs and others, while Monguno kept referring to them as “friends of the agency”.
Click here to read full article
SOURCE: THE NATION
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